Curriculum & Pedagogy A:
Mathematics

 

Effective Mathematics pedagogy is a hot topic in education today, how best to teach mathematics is an ongoing discussion amongst leaders in mathematics education, teaching and research. In our mathematics course we explore a range of effective pedagogical approaches which are research informed and have been shown to improve children’s conceptual understanding, their mathematics knowledge and their ability to ‘do’ mathematics, thus developing and extending their learning of mathematical concepts and their application of it to the world around them.  

 

Whilst we expect our kaiako pitomata to come to the university classroom with a good level of mathematics knowledge, we acknowledge that for some confidence in their mathematics content knowledge and ability to teach mathematics is a work in progress throughout the year and beyond. Our two mathematics micro teaching experiences have been designed to carefully scaffold students through the planning and teaching of their first ever mathematics lesson, a quick image conceptual warm up followed by a problem-solving lesson underpinned by culturally sustaining pedagogy.  

 

Mathematics Education research provides us with a rich pool of pedagogy to draw from. This research has seen the emergence of tools such as talk moves, socio group participatory norms, mathematical practices, and connecting with big mathematical ideas and much more. Along with this, there is also a wide pool of research around culturally sustaining pedagogy in mathematics, throughout the course the kaiako pitomata will learn how to ensure that all children’s culture and identity is nurtured and sustained within mathematics learning, where we draw on the children’s funds of knowledge, their funds of identity, their lived experiences and their personal and cultural strengths to build their mathematics learning around.      

  

 

Module Content

 

Module 1: An introduction to the New Zealand Curriculum and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy in Mathematics (27 Feb - 3 Mar)

 

  • Ethic of care and a Strengths Based Approach in mathematics 

  • Collaborative Learning through problem solving and Socio Group participatory norms.   

  • Introduction to mathematical practices  

  • Communication to engage diverse learners: Developing our use of Talk Moves using Quick Images as a conceptual warm up.  

  • Content: Early Number  

  • An introduction to planning: Quick Images Micro teaching 1  

 

Module 2: Building a Community of Learners in Mathematics (13 Mar - 17 Mar)

  • Orchestrating a lesson: Planning for problem solving micro teaching 2  

  • Flexible grouping for learning in mathematics: a strengths based approach to grouping 

  • Status and Equity in the mathematics classroom. 

  • Facilitating group work  

  • Mathematical tasks and questioning  

  • Content: Whole Number : Place Value  

 

Module 3: Trajectories of Learning in mathematics (5 June - 9 June)

  • Trajectories of learning  

  • Planning a sequence of lessons.  

  • Content: Whole number: Addition/subtraction   

  • Content: Whole number: Multiplication/Division  

 

Module 4: Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy in mathematics continued (19 June - 23 June) 

  • Whose mathematics is this?   

  • Drawing on mathematical and cultural funds of knowledge for rich task design  

  • Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy  

  • Contexts of tasks  

  • Content: Introduction to fractions  

 

Module 5: Explicit Teaching in Mathematics (26 June - 30 June)

  • Mathematical Practices revisited  

  • Making connections to the big mathematical idea: Explicit Teaching  

  • Conceptual Warm Up: Choral Counts  

  • Content: Decimal Fractions  

  • Content; Flexibility with fractions  

 

Module 6: Inquiry Pedagogy through a connected curriculum in the mathematics classroom (31 July - 4 Aug) 

  • Conceptual Warm Up: Strings  

  • Content: Patterns and Connections: Algebra  

  • Developing a culturally sustaining launch for an Algebra Task  

  • Grouping for a community of inquiry  

  • Assessment for learning in maths  

 

Module 7: Connecting the Mathematics Curriculum (6 Nov - 10 Nov) 

  • Content: Measurement  

  • Content: Statistics  

  • Content: Geometry  

  • Content: Probability   

  • Connecting Mathematics  

  • Mathematical inquiry/investigations.